Where Is Crypto Going in 2026? | Ben Cowen
Ben Cowen argues that the current crypto cycle may already be in its post‑euphoria bear phase, with Bitcoin likely having peaked and a true alt‑season unlikely. He outlines how macro forces—Fed policy, labor market dynamics, and AI‑driven investor attention—will shape crypto, stocks, and broader markets through 2026, and notes only narrow scenarios where Ethereum could briefly rally. Cowen emphasizes the need for real utility in crypto projects and advises patient, strategy‑focused investors to monitor macro trends and utility developments rather than chase hype.
The Top 10 Blogs of 2025
The Finanser’s 2025 roundup spotlights the year’s most‑read fintech and tech blogs, revealing a shift toward AI‑driven payments, corporate expansion, and crypto policy debates. Notable entries include Stripe’s GPT‑powered payment engine delivering a 15% conversion lift and 30% fraud reduction,...
Things Worth Reading: 23rd December 2025
Chris Skinner’s December 23 roundup highlights a wave of strategic moves across finance. The UK FCA launched a payments initiative to accelerate “Pay by Bank” adoption, while Mastercard forged Middle‑East alliances to push blockchain innovation. The list also spotlights 2025 fintech...
AI-Powered Portfolio Management Now Free for Investors
It is every investors’ dream to have a full-time team dedicated to managing their personal portfolio. That dream is now a reality with @cfosilvia. We use state-of-the-art AI models to help individual investors grow their assets. Sign up free: https://t.co/587F3GAhpp https://t.co/oZZqb30m6g
Simple App Needed to Fund Kids' Invest America Accounts
Someone should create a very simple app or website that lets anyone deposit money into an American child’s Invest America account. It would be great to meet a young person and minutes later be able to donate $100 to their future....
PayPal Is Coming to Africa (TWIF - Africa 12/22)
PayPal announced its launch in Africa, signaling a major shift for digital payments on the continent. This week’s roundup also highlighted $150 million in fintech deals, a $205 million venture fund underscoring continued investor confidence, and Paystack’s revival after a $160 k regulatory...
J.P. Morgan Payments’ Matthew McCown to Speak at FinAi Banking Summit
Matthew McCown, executive director of data and analytics at J.P. Morgan Payments, will appear on the FinAi Banking Summit’s panel “AI strategy at scale: Lessons from global banks” on March 3, 2026 in Denver. He will discuss how major banks...
Security Moves From Fixed Rules to Human‑Centric Intelligence
When digital security evolves from static protocols to understanding human patterns, a new layer of resilience becomes possible. This is the shift towards a more contextual and intelligent paradigm. Microblog @antgrasso #IOB https://t.co/9VD1xeXArC
Why ‘Buy the Dip’ Keeps Working Even When Everyone Says the Economy Is Terrible
The episode argues that "buy the dip" remains a reliable strategy because the Federal Reserve and government consistently intervene to support markets, making prolonged bear markets unlikely. It cites historical investing wisdom, recent data on strong retail inflows into S&P 500...
How TruStage Ventures Built Connective Tissue Between Fintechs and Credit Unions
TruStage Ventures, the corporate venture arm of $5.5 billion insurer TruStage, has deployed $400 million into 50 fintech startups since 2016 and brokered more than 3,000 partnerships between those firms and U.S. credit unions, which serve roughly 140 million members. The fund’s hands‑on...
The Financial Evolution of 2025: AI, Crypto, and Regional Banking
In 2025 artificial intelligence transitioned from a back‑office utility to a strategic decision‑making partner across the banking sector. Crypto assets rebounded, shedding much of the skepticism that plagued them in prior years and re‑establishing a foothold among institutional investors. Meanwhile,...
Is the Crypto-Native Era Coming to an End? - Lessons From 10 Years in Crypto with Joey Krug, Founders Fund...
In this episode, Joey Krug examines whether the crypto‑native era is waning as institutions adopt blockchain infrastructure without its original culture, drawing on his experience with Augur and Founders Fund. He explains how prediction markets like Polymarket achieved product‑market fit,...
A Quick Review of #fintech 2025
FinTech funding worldwide slipped 6% year‑over‑year in Q1‑Q3 2025, with deal count falling 27% to 2,654. Average deal size rose to $24.5 million, highlighting a shift toward larger, later‑stage rounds. While Europe’s funding plunged 42% and the United States saw a...
Things Worth Reading: 22nd December 2025
Chris Skinner’s "Things worth reading" roundup for December 22, 2025 curates seven high‑impact stories shaping finance. It highlights the Bank of England’s split decision to cut rates, British banks’ race to deploy agentic AI and the regulatory alarms it raises, and a...
The What the FinTech? Podcast | Season Six’s Jailed Buzzwords
Season six of the What the FinTech? podcast introduced its “Fintech Jail” segment, where guests either lock away overused fintech buzzwords or free previously incarcerated terms. Across 25 episodes, words such as “Cloud,” “Cheques,” and “Blockchain” were jailed, while “Agile,”...
Privacy-Enhancing Tech Enables Secure, Insightful Data Use
Modern privacy-enhancing technologies guide a responsible approach to data use by applying methods that protect personal information while supporting meaningful analysis, offering a structured path toward secure digital practices. #PrivacyTech #DataGovernance #Cybersecurity #DigitalTrust #PETs
Identify and Cancel Unused Subscriptions to Save Hundreds
Simple hack to improve your finances: Set up @cfosilvia with your bank account & credit cards. Ask Silvia for a list of all recurring payments. Cancel anything you use less than 1x per week. Takes a few minutes and saves hundreds of dollars. Sign...
OnePay Becomes Infrastructure for Agent-Led Commerce
OnePay, Walmart's digital banking platform, announced its entry into Google’s Agent Payments Protocol (AP2) as a credential provider, shifting from traditional payments to infrastructure for AI‑driven, agent‑led commerce. Unlike Mastercard, PayPal and American Express, which supply payment rails, OnePay will...
Trust Architecture & Digital Identity: Foundations of Secure Interactions
Trust architecture and digital identity now constitute the indispensable foundation for secure digital interactions, safeguarding data through continuous verification and user-centric models. Microblog @antgrasso #Cybersecurity https://t.co/hJRKN2xV4C
Video May Unlock Tacit Knowledge Transmission
How to transmit tacit knowledge is one of the deepest questions. Perhaps video can do things that text can't? At @stripepress, we're keen to explore this.
FinTech Futures: Top Five News Stories of the Week – 19 December 2025
FinTech Futures highlighted five pivotal stories this week. PayPal applied for a Utah‑chartered industrial bank to expand small‑business lending, while Monzo secured a full European banking licence and bought mortgage fintech Habito. The UK regulator fined Nationwide Building Society £44 million...
Revolut Targets High-Net-Worth Clients in Potential Blackstone Partnership
Revolut is in early talks with private‑equity giant Blackstone to embed the firm’s investment funds into a forthcoming private‑banking suite. The partnership would mark Revolut’s pivot from a mass‑market fintech to a wealth‑management platform targeting high‑net‑worth individuals. For Blackstone, the...
ROLLUP: Coinbase Ships | JPMorgan Onchain | Solana Firedancer | Aave Civil War | DTCC Tokenizes
In this episode, Ryan and David examine how Coinbase is evolving into a financial super‑app, while JPMorgan launches its first tokenized money‑market fund on Ethereum and regulators quietly enable on‑chain settlement via DTCC pilots. They also discuss Solana’s Firedancer client...
What the FinTech? | S.6 Episode 25 | 2025 in Review and Predictions for 2026
The "What the FinTech?" podcast’s Season 6, Episode 25 recaps 2025’s most impactful financial‑services developments and outlines key forecasts for 2026. Hosts Dave Wallace and Dharmesh Mistry highlight AI‑driven credit models, the rapid expansion of open‑banking APIs, tighter crypto regulation, and the...
Digital Identity versus Privacy
The post outlines a shift toward privacy‑first behavior as consumers curb personal data sharing and adopt tools like encrypted messaging, VPNs, and tracker‑blocking browsers. Device manufacturers such as Apple, Samsung, and Google are responding by integrating on‑device processing, stricter app...
The Arguments for and Against Digital Identification
Fintech commentator Chris Skinner outlines the growing push for digital identity systems, citing government initiatives in the UK, the US mobile driver’s licence, and Apple’s Wallet ID. He contrasts these programs with public resistance rooted in privacy fears, especially around...
Things Worth Reading: 19th December 2025
Chris Skinner’s December 19 2025 roundup curates six fintech stories that illustrate the sector’s evolving landscape. Highlights include Citi’s perspective on funding trends, Aspire’s acquisition of global licences, the emergence of fintech‑driven gambling platforms, HSBC’s £55 million physical‑branch refurbishment, and the Bank of...
Jason Lee, Head of Chime Enterprise, on the Transformation of Employee Financial Health
In this episode, fintech veteran Jason Lee discusses how employee financial wellness is becoming as essential as health insurance, emphasizing that it drives productivity and business performance. He explains the evolution from DailyPay to Salt Labs and its acquisition by...
AI-Driven Personalization ‘No Longer Optional’
Udi Ziv, CEO of Personetics, explains that AI-driven personalization has become essential for banks and credit unions seeking growth and retention, as customers now expect the same seamless digital experiences offered by other apps. He highlights the shift from competing...
Stablecoins and Strategy
The episode examines how stablecoins fit into long‑term strategic thinking, using China’s CCP and its recent policy discussions as a case study. It highlights the view that stablecoins are a gateway to a tokenised capital‑market ecosystem where settlement can be...
How FIS Is Helping Financial Institutions Evolve Loyalty Beyond Rewards
At its Emerald 2025 conference, FIS outlined a new loyalty playbook for banks, urging a shift from chasing share of wallet to capturing share of mind first. The firm promotes "embedded loyalty," weaving rewards and engagement directly into the customer...
Simplifying Small Business Finances: Inside U.S. Bank’s Award-Winning Approach
U.S. Bank was named Tearsheet’s Best Bank for SMBs, recognizing its Business Essentials suite that unifies checking, payments, payroll, and spend controls into a single digital platform. The bank’s data shows growing adoption of these tools, with small‑business owners consolidating...
Peter Dougherty, President of Spreedly | Episode 454
In this episode, Peter Dougherty, President of Spreedly, explains how an open payments platform enables global brands to launch faster, reduce vendor risk, and improve authorization rates by providing a unified layer for tokenization, fraud, KYC, and multi‑processor connectivity. He...
Deutsche Bank Brings Wero to the Mainstream in Germany
Deutsche Bank has launched the full‑functionality Wero digital payments app for retail customers of both Deutsche Bank and Postbank, adding real‑time e‑commerce payments across Europe. The rollout expands the European Payments Initiative (EPI) flagship wallet into Germany’s largest banking market,...
A Great Example of a Terrible UX (#Barclays)
Barclays recently altered its online login flow, forcing users to choose between mobile access and a PINsentry card reader, which many customers mistake for their usual mobile PINsentry method. The ambiguous labeling leads to repeated access failures, wasted time, and...
Things Worth Reading: 18th December 2025
Chris Skinner’s "Things worth reading" roundup highlights the most consequential fintech stories of December 2025, from the sector’s biggest headlines and a surge in UK hiring to a landmark industry‑communication report. The list also spotlights credit‑debit innovation, the AI compliance...
Coinbase Poised to Become the Next Major Financial Institution
I had the opportunity a few years ago at Morgan Creek to invest in Coinbase while they were still private. I remember thinking they had a chance to dominate the crypto industry and be the leading US-based exchange. Now it is obvious...
Coin Unleashes Eight Products, Aims to Lead Crypto Super‑App Race
Crypto companies are assaulting Wall Street. $COIN launched 8 different products last night as they try to be the first financial "super app" in the US. https://t.co/JwUb4F2xYa
Bank of London Product Head: “Clients Don’t Want to Wait for Cutoff Times” On-Chain
Charlotte Bullock, Head of Product at The Bank of London, highlighted the bank’s focus on rapid experimentation and short approval cycles, contrasting it with the slower, layered processes of large corporates. The bank is embedding AI assistants directly into its...
Inside a Crypto-Only Lifestyle - Joel Valenzuela | ATC #590
In this episode, Stephen Sargeant talks with crypto pioneer Joël Valenzuela about his transition from early Bitcoin involvement to a fully crypto‑only lifestyle, eschewing traditional fiat banking. Valenzuela explains how Dash’s focus on privacy and instant transactions makes it uniquely...
AI Gives Everyone Free CFO-Level Financial Guidance
Rich people hire a team to manage their finances and help them make more money. The average person can't afford to do this. However, anyone can now have this luxury at their fingertips with the rise of AI. That is why we build...
Payments on the Move: Three Ways Checkout Is Changing
Generation Alpha grows up in a cashless world, pushing merchants to reinvent the checkout experience. Three trends are reshaping payments: software‑based solutions such as SoftPOS and SmartPOS, integrated payments through ISV partnerships, and AI‑driven conversational commerce. SoftPOS turns any smartphone...
Why B2B Payments Are Becoming the Next Acquirer Battleground
Mastercard is urging payment acquirers to shift focus from consumer‑centric models to B2B card acceptance, highlighting an estimated $80 trillion addressable opportunity in accounts payable and receivable. It argues that commercial‑card economics now outpace legacy B2B2C margins, especially as acceptance moves...
PayPal’s US Banking Ambition Signals a Strategic Shift
PayPal has filed applications with the Utah Department of Financial Institutions and the FDIC to launch PayPal Bank, marking its first attempt to obtain a U.S. banking charter. The move would shift the company from a pure payments platform to...
Federated Learning Boosts AI Without Leaving Data Behind
When sensitive data must remain in place, yet collective intelligence is needed, a distributed approach to artificial intelligence emerges. Federated learning enables this balance, allowing models to improve across networks without compromising data sovereignty or transparency. #FederatedAI #PrivacyFirst #AI
AI Triggers Cascade: From Efficiency to Industry Overhaul
AI-driven shifts are reshaping productivity, market behaviors, competitive pressure, and organizational design, creating a sequence of changes that move from immediate efficiency gains to broader transformations across industries. Infographic @Gartner_inc via @antgrasso https://t.co/BckFf1DZ02
Things Worth Reading: 17th December 2025
Chris Skinner’s daily reading roundup spotlights a sweeping set of financial‑sector developments. It highlights the European Central Bank’s ambitious banking‑rules overhaul and a forward‑looking analysis of how central banks should steer through the uncertainty of 2026. The list also captures fintech’s...
Wall Street's Crypto Embrace Set to Transform Finance
Wall Street is embracing bitcoin and crypto, which is going to fundamentally change finance forever. https://t.co/W1vBhOdNNj
Live on PBD's Podcast: Economics, Geopolitics, Tech & Bitcoin
I am joining @PBDsPodcast LIVE for the next two hours. Economics, geopolitics, finance and tech. Maybe even a little bitcoin talk. Tune in here: https://t.co/rATyLq0Zm1
Web3 Empowers Transparent, Decentralized Control of Data and Assets
Web3 creates a distributed and transparent digital environment, giving people control of data and transactions while supporting secure smart contracts, interoperable networks, tokenized assets, and an extensible structure for future applications. Microblog @antgrasso #blockchain https://t.co/kjuQwye1sf